Park City’s Main Street is scheduled to close to vehicle traffic around noon Thursday. It’s the first time Main Street will close for extended periods during Sundance. Park City Police Chief Wade Carpenter said closing the street will prioritize public safety.
“On the heels of the inauguration, obviously there are potential rallies, protests, marches that could come about,” Carpenter said. “We also looked at what happened in New Orleans on Jan. 1, that horrific event. We certainly want to make sure that our event is safe, that we’re taking all the proper precautions to protect the festival goers.”
Carpenter said they will evaluate conditions as Sundance proceeds and have not yet decided whether the Main Street closure will remain in place throughout the festival.
Deliveries and other traffic will be allowed on Main until noon each day.
Other Old Town restrictions will also be implemented beginning Thursday.
At noon daily Swede Alley will be limited to credentialed vehicles with resident, event or employee permits.
Park Avenue will also be limited to one-way traffic headed north, or downhill. Only city buses and residents with access passes will be able to travel the road southbound. Additionally, Hillside Avenue will only be accessible to vehicles with a residential pass during Sundance.
Park City Special Events Manager Chris Phinney said the best way for festivalgoers to get into town is by parking at Richardson Flat near U.S. 40.
“Transit, transit, transit is how we’re trying to look at it,” Phinney said. “The more we can plan ahead and use some of those satellite parking lots. Richardson Flat will have a 10-minute frequency out there, so every 10 minutes there’ll be a bus.”
Buses will be running at Richardson Flat from 6:40 a.m. until 2 a.m. for the duration of Sundance.
Beginning at 5 p.m. each day of the two-week festival, free parking with transit access will also be available at Park City Mountain Village and Deer Valley’s Snow Park base.
Phinney said the city has designated two areas in Old Town for vehicle and rideshare drop-off: on lower Main Street, between 7th and 9th Streets, and the South Marsac parking lot next to City Hall’s front doors.
“The drop-off area should be really similar to the airport-style drop-off,” Phinney said. “We’ll have long areas that will have multiple lanes and waiting areas with heaters on that lower Main area.”
The China Bridge garage will be limited and rates will be increased.
Instead of its normal Main Street route, the Old Town Trolley will run on Swede Alley. There will be designated ADA parking on Swede Alley, the Brew Pub parking lot at the top of Main and in China Bridge.
Park City’s community guide for Sundance has comprehensive details on parking and street restrictions:
